“For everyone has sinned; we all fall short of God’s glorious standard.”

We are not perfect. We all make mistakes because we are not God. When we fall short of God’s standard, we are separated from our relationship with God. We need a way to overcome this, but since we all fall short, we cannot accomplish this on our own. However, the next verse on the Romans Road shares with us who can overcome this obstacle for us.

“But God showed his great love for us by sending Christ to die for us while we were still sinners.”

This verse explains that God loves us so much that he let his son sacrifice his life for us. When we were hopeless, he gave us hope. God made a way for us to have a relationship with Him forever. As we continue along the Romans Road, we see how extreme the separation from God is and that God makes the relationship with Him a gift.

“For the wages of sin is death, but the free gift of God is eternal life through Christ Jesus our Lord.”

When we place ourselves above others and neglect the homeless, hurting, and hopeless in our world, we are separating ourselves from God. From the Bible this is considered as “death”. Similar to our standard court of law system, broken laws lead to punishment. As individuals we do not have the ability to faithfully keep God’s standard. So, the result is death.

But there is another side to this coin. In contrast to our inability to keep the law of God and what we earn from sin, God gives us the gracious gift of eternal life through Jesus Christ who paid the penalty for our sin so we would not have to. He gave his life so you could live forever in heaven. Because of Jesus Christ’s sacrifice for us we can see how good new life can be. The next verses in the Romans Road tells us how we can have that relationship with God through Jesus Christ.

“If you openly declare that Jesus is Lord and believe in your heart that God raised him from the dead, you will be saved.”

Do you believe Jesus is the Son of God who died for your sin and rose from the dead? Are you willing to confess your sin, agree with God you cannot keep God’s standard without God’s help?

Through faith in Jesus Christ, God’s power can change you. You do not have to live a life of brokenness and bondage. You do not have to be hopeless. Believing in Jesus can set you free and give you hope.

“So now there is no condemnation for those who belong to Christ Jesus.”

This means if you have put your faith in Jesus Christ, believing he died for you and rose again from the dead. Anyone in Christ Jesus is not going to be condemned for their sin and will not go to hell. If that’s you, then you do not need to walk around feeling guilty or shameful over your sin. Once you have believed in Christ, your sin is washed away.